Motorola MOTO Z10 review

Having introduced the 'kick slider' mobile with last year's Z8, Motorola has refreshed and upgraded the concept with the more refined MOTO Z10. The Z10 moves the design on with an enhanced set of features, including a higher quality 3.2-megapixel camera with autofocus system, plus sophisticated in-phone video editing options. And to further show off its multimedia capabilities, Motorola is boxing the Z10 with a 1GB MicroSD card pre-loaded the three full length Bourne action movies.

But the Z10 follows a similar blueprint to the Z8, with high-speed HSDPA connectivity enabling 3G download and web browsing speeds of up to 3.6Mbps, and a fine set of onboard applications underpinned by the Symbian UIQ smartphone operating system.

Motorola's kick slider is in effect a sliderphone with a twist - a hinge on the back panel that comes into play when the slider is moved up, changing the shape of the phone slightly so it curves, banana-like, to follow the contours of your face. The theory is that this improves call quality by shifting the microphone position nearer to your mouth; while this may be the case, it's also an eye-catching piece of mobile engineering that will make the Z10 stand out from run-of-the-mill sliders.

Motorola has toned down the Z8's flashy bodywork on the Z10, ditching the attention-grabbing lime-green trim of the Z8 for a more sober chrome and black look. Some may be disappointed at the Z10's more conformist look, but it should increase its mass-market appeal.

Design and handling
The Motorola MOTO Z10 is one solidly built smartphone. It's no lightweight, tipping the scales at around 119g, and its construction - including the complex kick slider hinge - feels robust. The 109.7(h) x 50.7(w) x 15.8(d)mm dimensions give it a chunky candybar size and feel when closed. The kick slider, though has a tactile, smoothly sprung action that outclasses many conventional sliderphones. Gimmick or not, it'll get you noticed.

The numberpad design has been tweaked from the Z8 to give it more finger-friendly headroom. Number keys are well spaced, and almost flush but raised slightly to facilitate easier texting. Despite this, the key action feels a bit heavy.

The Z10 has a largish 2.2-inch display, a QVGA (240x320 pixels) 16 million-colour TFT that makes for a decent (if not overly-huge) viewing platform for the movies included in-box, camera-captured images and the web browser. Unlike most other Symbian UIQ-based devices, Motorola's Z8 and Z10 don't utilise the touchscreen capability of this smartphone operating system, instead sticking to a conventional navigation D-pad based user interface.

The controls around the navigation D-pad are set into the plastic frame surrounding the screen, which gives them a smooth surface, but which also makes them slightly stiff to press. Nonetheless, the D-pad control is more fluent, while the navigation system is easy to follow and will be familiar to most mobile users. There's a main menu button to the side of the D-pad, with softkeys, a back key and conventional call and end buttons.

The standby screen set-up uses a list of screen plug-ins for certain features, offering shortcuts and information (such as messages, emails, calendar, profiles and media player info). You can switch individual ones on or off, depending how full you want your standby screen to look. The main menu display offers the usual default grid of icons, though you can change this to a list, if you prefer. This can be particularly handy for some sub menus, where there can be numerous unfamiliar grid icons to wade through.

One operation niggle is the speed of the automatic key lock, which kicks in too quickly when you pause for a few seconds between button pressing - fine when the phone's closed, but a tad frustrating when you're in the middle of something.

Camera action
The Z10's 3.2-megapixel camera is a welcome upgrade from the Z8. It has a quick and responsive autofocus system onboard that can get sharp close-ups at up to 10cm away, and a 2-step shutter operation that gives you more control over image composition and exposure.

There's a side-mounted camera button that can fire up the shooter in under 1.5 seconds (provided you don't have to undo the keypad lock first). The digital zoom is controlled by the navigation pad rather than side keys, but is easy to manage.

Oddly, when the kick slider's open, it's the front facing video call camera that's automatically engaged rather than the main camera on the back; you have to keep it closed to take regular shots. This is a curious way to set up the phone and initially mildly frustrating - after all, how often does anyone really want to take a low-resolution self-portrait?

Still, in action, the camera is capable of producing some decent photographs, with plenty of detail on the maximum image size, and fine colour rendition and good auto exposure. The autofocus system worked well too, although for very close-up shots you may have to try a few times to get your shot precise.

Although the camera has an LED flash, it doesn't manage particularly well in low-lilght conditions; indoors in normal light was OK, but as outdoors at night or in subdued bar lighting-type situations, the LED flash has limited illumination range and illumination power, so shots over a few feet are dark.

Most shots are very presentable, though, and you can upload them directly to a blog or numerous content sharing sites using the Shozu uploading application that's integrated into the phone. Similarly, you can take and post video clips quickly and easily too.

See our related article Motorola MOTO Z10 camera samples to see more detailed information on the camera, plus examples of shots taken by the Z10 in varying conditions. 

Video making
The Z10 has a pretty nifty bunch of video making tools onboard. You can shoot clips in QVGA (320x 240 pixels) size at 30 frames per second, so they're average quality resolution for a mobile mobile but play back smoothly. The phone has ArcSoft Media Editor software pre-loaded too, which allows you to edit videos and photos, using a storyboard, with cut and paste options, and the facility to add transitions, a soundtrack, narration and graphics.

Motorola is understandably keen to promote this movie making feature; it is easy to get to grips with and you can create some neat results quickly and easily, and upload them straight to YouTube (or other sites) directly from the phone. Or you can share them with friends via Bluetooth, if you prefer.

The Symbian UIQ operating system underpinning the Z10 enables you to customise the phone by downloading additional applications to suit you're particular requirements. Motorola supplies a healthy selection of these to play with. These include a Mobiclip video player on which to watch the movies on your MicroSD card (the Bourne Identity, the Bourne Supremacy and the Bourne Ultimatum are all included) or other video content in DVD-like quality, at 30 frames per second. It's playback is impressively smooth and clear, and Motorola claims it doesn't unduly eat into battery life.

Web-based services
Also lined up in the main menu is Sky Anytime, an application that enables you to set up programme recording remotely for your home Sky , if you subscribe to Sky TV. Other web-based applications include Yahoo! Go 2.0, which provides a widgets-like spread of updated news and weather information, location based services and mapping, email updates, content sharing, Yahoo! oneSearch and other services in one easily navigable place. vTap is another app that enables users to search, browse, play and share online video content, and set up a personalised profile for getting relevant videos sent to you.

To help make the most of its HSDPA high-speed mobile connectivity, Motorola has included the Opera 8.65 for Symbian OS browser, capable of quick page rendition in full desktop or mobile-optimised views. It also has a decent range of navigation facilities, including fast zoom control and a useful pre-loaded bookmarks list. Video and music can be downloaded speedily too from network operator portal services.

Music player
Naturally, the Motorola MOTO Z10 has a music player onboard, a multi-format media player that supports MP3, AAC, AACplus, eAACplus, WAV, AMR NB, MP4, WMA, MIDI, iMelody and G.726 audio formats. This can be started by a fast key on the side, under the volume controls.

You can sync the phone with Windows Media Player on a PC or download tracks using supplied Motorola PCSync software and in-box USB cable, or by drag and dropping tracks from a PC with the phone in mass storage mode. There's 70MB of user storage plus support for MicroSD cards, including high capacity MicroSDHC cards with capacity of up to 32GB.

The stereo headset supplied with the Z10 are average quality, with a reasonable amount of bass but a bit trebly. They can produce loud enough volume though. The loudspeaker is loud and quite clear too though the usual bass-absent mobile fare. The Z10 use a miniUSB connector rather than a standard headphone 3.5mm socket, so you can't just switch to your own earphones without an adapter. You could try a Bluetooth stereo wireless option, however.

All the other usual productivity tools you'd expect of a smartphone are present - push email support, an extensive set of organiser apps, including an agenda, to do list, jotter and calculator, plus voice recorder. A nifty 3D game racing game, Asphalt 2, is pre-loaded too, while more games and Symbian UIQ apps can be downloaded from Motorola and third party sites like Handango (www.handango.com).

Performance
As for battery life, Motorola claims the Z10 can keep running for up to 7 hours talktime on a regular GSM network or for 4 hours on 3G, and provide standby of up to 400 hours - a decent set of figures for a smartphone like this.

Overall, we were pleased with the phone's smartphone performance, though there were some times when we felt the phone was a touch sluggish in responding to button pressing. We also experienced a couple of small software glitches during tests on our early review sample.

Audio performance for the basics of making and taking calls was excellent; we had no issues with the volume or clarity of voice communications. We couldn't comment on whether that was due entirely to the kick slider design, but gimmick or not, it's a neat looking design touch that adds to the Z10's personality.

It misses out on some top-end smartphone gadgetry, such as Wi-Fi connectivity and GPS sat nav functionality, not to mention the usual Symbian UIQ touchscreen control. And even without these it's a hefty handset. Nonetheless, the Motorola MOTO Z10 has a decent package of attractive applications and features inside that, along with its quirky design, give it some serious appeal.

Motorola MOTO Z10 technical specifications